Pope is visiting Congo and South Sudan Today
RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA)- The Pope sets off on historic peace mission to African countries of Congo and South Sudan.
This is the Pope`s 40th international trip and he will be joined by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the moderator of the Church of Scotland the Rev Dr Iain Greenshields.
It is the first ecumenical peace mission of its kind and has been dubbed “a pilgrimage of peace”.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is said to be the Africa’s most populous Catholic country, with more than half of its 95 million inhabitants professing the faith.
In a letter to both countries, Pope Francis noted the DRC suffers from armed clashes and exploitation, especially in the east of the country, and that South Sudan, has been wracked by years of war and “longs for an end to the constant violence that forces many people to be displaced and to live in conditions of great hardship.”